htxjzr  Jf^^^'^^j^'^  c^ujuf/juoAji  xjtr~ 


..  XIX 

nted  from 


JULY,  1920 


No.  3 


THE  JOURNAL  Q^ 
NGLISH  AND  GERMA 
PHILOLOGY 

FOUNDED  BY  GUSTAF  E.  KARSTEN 


AR  2  1937 


OGlGALB^ 


Managing  Editor 
JULIUS  GOEBEL,  University  of  Illinois 

Associate  Editors 

H.  S.  V.  JONES  AND  G.  T.  FLOM 

University  of  Illinois 

Co-operating  Editors 
HERMANN  COLLITZ,  Johns  Hopkins  University 
GEORGE  O.  CURME,  Northwestern  University 
WILLIAM  W.  LAWRENCE,  Columbia  University 
CLARK  S.  NORTHUP,  Cornell  University 


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JSHED  QUARTERLY  by  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILUNOIS 
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p 


'*0  DU  ARMER  JUDAS" 

The  German  translation  of  the  concluding  strophe  of  a 
Latin  Easter  hymn,  "Laus  tibi,  Christe,  qui  pateris": 

O  tu  miser  Juda,  quid  fecisti, 
quod  tu  nostrum  dominum  tradidisti? 
ideo  in  inferno  cruciaberis, 
Lucifero  cum  socius  sociaberis.^ 
runs  as  follows; 

O  du  armer  Judas, 

Was  hast  du  getan, 

Dass  du  deinen  herren 

Also  verraten  hast 

Darumb  so  mustu  leiden 

Hellische  pein, 

Lucifers  geselle 

Mustu  ewig  sein.     Kyrieeleison.^ 

This  German  translation  and  parodies  of  it  enjoyed  a  very 
remarkable  popularity  as  satirical  songs  for  several  centuries, 
and  the  air  is  not  yet  forgotten  in  some  parts  of  Austria.*  It 
is  particularly  noteworthy  as  being  "one  of  the  few  instances  in 
which  folk-song  has  borrowed  a  tune  from  the  Church."* 

-  P.  Wackernagel  {Das  deutsche  Kirchenlied,  I  [Leipzig,  1864],  210,  No. 
.i47)  gives  the  Latin  text  and  its  variants.  W.  Baumker  {Das  katholische 
deutsche  Kirchenlied  in  seinen  Singweisen,  I  [Freiburg  i.  B.,  1886],  462-463) 
adds  nothing  of  importance  on  the  Latin  text. 

^  The  text  and  music  are  conveniently  accessible  in  Rochus,  Freiherr  von 
Liliencron,  Deutsches  Leben  im  Volkslied  urn  1530  {Deutsche  National- Litter atur, 
ed.  J.  Kiirschner,  XIII,  Stuttgart,  n.d.),  pp.  227-228,  No.  75  and  elsewhere  as 
cited  below.  The  minor  variations  in  the  text  are  fully  given  by  Wackernagel, 
op.  ciL,  II  (Leipzig,  1867),  468-469,  Nos.  616-618. 

^  The  best  study  of  the  Judaslied  is  by  R.  Hildebrand  in  Materialien  zur 
Geschichte  des  deutschen  Volksliedes,  I:  Das  alter e  Volkslied,  Zeitschrift  fiir  den 
deuischen  Unterricht,  Erganzungsheft  5  to  vol.  XIV,  Leipzig,  1900,  pp.  63  ff 
(I  have  not  identified  his  citation  "Monn.,  II,  281  ff.")  See  also  Creizenach, 
"Judas  Iscariot  in  Sage  und  Legende  des  Mittelalters,"  Beiirdge  zur  Geschichte 
der  deutschen  Sprache,  II  (1876),  185-186  and  Solovev,  K  legendam  oh  ludyc 
predatelye,  Kharkov,  1898,  pp.  116-117.  Solovev  cites  Nordmeyer,  "Pontius 
Pilatus  in  der  Sage,"  Beilage  zur  Allgemeinen  Zeitung,  Miinchen,  22  April, 
1895,  111,  No.  92;  but  that  article  mentions  Judas  only  in  passing  and  is  of  no 
service  here. 

''  F.  M.  Bohme.  Altdculsches  Liederbuch.  Leipzig,  1877.  p.  646. 

1 


— ^  f 


"0  Du  Armer  Judas*' 

The  date  of  the  origin  of  this  song  is  very  uncertain.  There 
seems  to  be  no  record  of  the  malody  much  before  1400;  and  the 
earliest  documentary  evidence  of  its  satirical  employment  is 
nearly  a  hundred  years  later.  But,  even  though  such  songs  may 
become  popular  very  quickly,  still  the  circumstances  of  its  first 
recorded  use  seem  to  imply  that  it  was  known  some  time  before 
the  end  of  the  15th  century.  In  fact  there  are  passages  which 
occur  three  or  four  hundred  years  earlier  which  may  possibly 
contain  allusions  to  the  song.  Miillenhoff  suggests  that  the 
**armer  Judas"  of  the  song  is  referred  to  in  the  "Friedberger 
Christ  und  Antichrist,"  a  fragmentary  Old  High  German  poem 
of  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  century  which  narrates  the  life  of 
Jesus  und  describes  Antichrist  and  the  Day  of  Judgment,' 
In  describing  the  Last  Supper  the  author  says: 

bit  demo  brach  er  daz  br6t 
demo  armen  Jude  er  iz  b6t. 

The  use  of  the  descriptive  adjective  "arm,"  miser,  of  Judas,  and 
especially  at  the  moment  of  his  betrayal  of  his  Master,  is  so 
unexpected  that  one  is  perhaps  justified  in  thinking  of  the  song. 
The  editors  of  the  Denkmdler,  however,  cite  other  and  later 
instances®  in  which  the  same  or  a  similar  phrase  appears,  and 
it  is  therefore  possible  that  the  adjective  is  merely  conventional, 
as  in  "der  arme  Sunder,"  and  that  its  use  here  does  not  imply 
familiarity  with  the  Judaslied. 

^  Miillenhoff  and  Scherer,  Denkmaler  deutscher  Poesie  und  Prosa  aus  dem 
V III. -XII.  Jahrhundert  (3rd  ed.  by  E.  Steinmeyer,  Berlin,  1892),  I,  102,  No. 
XXXIII,  C  lla;  see  the  notes,  II,  197-201,  especiaUy  p.  198. 

•The  following  parallels  are  given:  "den  armen  Judas  er  gebilidot" 
(Ruland,  70, 11);  "der  arme  Judas"  ("Urstende,"  K.  A.  Hahn,  Deutsche  Gedichte 
der  12.  und  13.  Jakrhunderte,  104,  69) ;  "der  ermiste  man,  von  dem  ich  ie  vemam, 
daz  was  Judas  Scariotis"  ("Leben  Jesu,"  Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben,  Fund- 
gruhefiy  I,  153, 1.  31).    Compare  ;ilso 

Cntriu,  Nit  dabi  was. 

do  der  arme  Jiadas 

den  wS,ren  gotes  sun  verriet 

benamen  umb  ein  kleine  miet 
in  Seifrid  Helbling  (ed.  J.  Seemiiller,  Halle,  1886,  p.  244  IVII,  174]).  For  other 
curious  uses  of  the  word  "arm"  see  Helbling,  p.  271  (VII,  1013);  p.  270  (VII, 
980);  WigamuTy  v.  277;  Muspili,  v.  66  (cf.Mullenhoff  and  Scherer,^  II,  34); 
Otfrid,  1, 17,  51.  Hildebrand  (Materialien,  p.  62,  n.  3)  remarks  that  the  phrases 
"armer  Teufel,"  "armer  Schacher"  are  "certainly  derived  from  the  medieval 
stage." 


Taylor 

There  is  an  interesting  passage  in  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach's 
Parzival,''  in  which  Bartsch  thought  he  found  a  reminiscence  of 
the  Judas  song: 

Unt  der  anne  JAclas, 

Der  bl  eime  kusse  was 

An  der  triuwenlosen  vart, 

Da  lesus  verraten  wart. 

But  Martin^  considers  the  adjective  a  fixed  epithet,  which  was 
perhaps  suggested  by  a  passage  in  Brandan  • 

Ich  bin  ez  der  arme  Judas 
der  ie  ungetriuwe  was.  .  }^ 

Solovev,  moreover,  finds  an  allusion  to  the  Judaslied  in  the 
following  lines  from  the  Klage  of  Hartmann  von  Aue: 

Und  daz  diu  arme  sele  min 

Ewechlichen  miieze  sin 

In  der  tiefen  helle 

Jiidases  geselle, 

Dk  niemen  froude  haben  mac, 

Unz  an  den  jungesten  tac' 

Bech*s  note  on  this  passage,  however,  makes  it  evident  that  the 
wish  expressed  here  is  a  part  of  the  medieval  oath  which 
employed  the  name  of  Judas  and  other  notorious  Biblical 
sinners  for  their  terrifying  effect.^^ 

In  the  generation  just  preceding  the  Reformation  we  meet 
the  first  demonstrable  allusion  to  the  Judas  song,  and  find  that  it 
was  then  utilized  as  a  song  of  mockery.  Emperor  Maximilian 
caused  the  Judaslied,  ''carmen  illud  maledictionis,""  to  be 

»Ed.  Lachmann,  219,  25  (Book  IV,  vv.  1212-1216);  ed.  Bartsch,*  I 
{Deutsche  Klassiker  des  Mittdalters,  IX,  Leipzig,  1875),  p.  230;  ed.  E.  Martin,  I 
{Germanistische  Handbibliothsk,  IX,  1,  Hille  a.  S.,  1903),  p.  76. 

*  Vol.  II  (1903),  Kommentar,  p.  204,  cf.  Berichtigungen  und  Nachtrage, 
p.  xcvii. 

"»  Ed.  Schroder,  vv.  965-966.  Martin's  reference  to  v.  1351  is  apparently- 
incorrect.  I  see  no  reason  for  thinking  that  Wolfram  was  acquainted  with 
these  lines;  the  phrase  "der  arme  Judas"  as  a  commonplace. 

"  Vv.  1430  ff.  (Deutsche  Klassiker  des  Mittelalters,  V,  Hartmann  von  Aue, 
III,  3rd  ed.,  Leipzig,  1891,  p.  96). 

*"  On  this  oath  see  H.  Martin,  "The  Judas  Iscariot  Curse,"  American  Jour- 
nal of  Philology,  XXXVII  (1916),  434-451  and  my  additions  in  a  forthcoming 
niunber  of  the  same  journal. 

"Liliencron  {Die  historischen  VolksUeder  der  Deutschen,  II  [Leipzig,  1866], 
184)  quotes  the  phrase  from  Oefele,  Script.,  I,  224;  cf.  also  Hildebrand,  p.  63. 


"O  Du  Armer  Judas'' 

played  when,  on  the  26th  of  May,  1490,  he  floated  down  the 
Danube  past  the  defiant  inhabitants  of  Regensburg.  The  city 
had  renounced  its  allegiance  to  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  in 
1486  and  had  tumed  to  Bavaria,  and,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Emperor's  visit  to  that  part  of  the  Empire  four  years  later,  the 
rebellious  citizens  refused  him  admission. 

Naturally  so  effective  a  weapon  of  satire  was  not  neglected 
in  the  bitter  strife  which  accompanied  the  Reformation,  and  in 
the  two  generations  between  1520  and  1580  the  Judas  song  was 
parodied  repeatedly .^^  Perhaps  its  first  employment  for  satiri- 
cal purposes  is  that  in  the  **Defensio  Christianorum  de  Cruce, 
id  est,  Lutheranorum"  of  1520,  an  attack  on  Murner,  the 
cleverest  and  foulest  of  Luther's  opponents.  He  had  to  endure 
this  far  from  witty  adaptation  of  the  song: 

Ach  du  armer  MURNarr, 
Was  hastu  getan, 
das  du  also  bllnt 
in  der  heilgen  schrift  bist  gan? 
des  mustu  in  der  kutten 
liden  pin, 

aller  gelerten  MURR  NARR 
mustu  sin. 
Ohe  ho  lieber  Murnar.'^ 

And  during  the  feuds  which  devastated  Germany  fot  the  next 
generation,  indeed  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half,  the 
Judaslied  is  heard  again  and  again.  In  1525  when  the  peasants 
withdrew  from  the  Marienberg  just  outside  of  Wiirzburg,  the 
watchman  blew  the  tune  to  express  his  scorn  of  the  retreating 
enemy: 

Da  war  ein  groszes  frohlocken  und  schreien  im  ganzen  schlosz  Marienberg; 
der  thiimer  auf  dem  mittleren  thurn  blies  den  bauern  das  gemein  liedlein: 
hat  dich  der  schimpf  gereuen,  so  zeug  du  wider  heim.**    So  ward  der  fordere 

"  I  do  not  find  it  mentioned  in  Kopp,  "Die  niederdeutschen  Lieder  des  16. 
Jahrhunderts,"  Jahrbuch  des  Vereinsfur  niederdeutscke  Sprachforschung^  XXVI 
(1900),  1  ff.,  32  ff.;  nor  in  A.  Hartmann,  Historische  Lieder  und  Zeitgedichte  vom 
16.  his  19.  Jahrhundert  (ed.  H.  Abele). 

"Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben,  Geschichte  des  deutschen  Kirchenliedes/ 
Hannover,  1861,  p.  232.  The  "Defensio"  was  written  by  Matthaus  Gnidius, 
see  J.  M.  Lappenberg,  Dr.  Thomas  Murners  Ulenspiegel,  Leipzig,  1854,  p.  417. 

"  A  song  which  is  frequently  referred  to  in  the  chronicles  of  this  period, 
but  which  has  not  been  preserved;  see  Hildebrand's  interesting  discussion,  pp. 
59ff. 


Taylor 

thurner  herab  auf  die  schut  gefiihrt  und  blies  den  Wirzburgern  den  armen  Judas: 

0  Judas,  armer  Judas,  ach  was  hastu  getan.'= 

The  ballad  of  Fritz  Beck,  master  of  ordnance  for  the  besieged, 
reports  this  event  with  mention  of  the  Judas  song: 

Der  thurner  blies  den  Judas, 

ach  was  hast  du  gethan ! 

es  waren  selzam  laudes, 

es  lacht  nicht  iederman. 

er  blies:  hats  dich  gerewet, 

so  ziehe  wider  heim.^® 

Further  south,  in  Switzerland,  the  Catholics  played  the 
song  of  Judas,  the  traitor,  on  the  organ  of  the  cathedral  in 
Bern  to  show  their  scorn  for  the  iconoclasts  who  had  taken 
possession  of  the  building.  Hottinger^^  reports  the  incident  as 
follows: 

Auch  die  Musik  beym  Gottesdienste  ward  abgeschafft.  Am  Abende  des 
letzten  Vincenzius-Festes  [7  Feb.,  1528]  spiel te  der  Organist  die  Tonweise  des 
Liedes:  "Ach  armer  Judas  was  hast  du  gethan?"  und  verliess  dann  mit  Weh- 
muth  die  schone  Orgel,  welche  nun  sogleich  zerschlagen  ward. 

The  followers  of  Luther  satirized  the  Swabians  in  "Ain  anders 
lied  sagt  von  den  schwaben,  wy  sie  von  gotts  wort  abgefallen 
sindt,  im  thon  *o  du  armer  Judas,'  "  which  is  too  long  to  reprint 
here.^^     The  first  of  the  eight  stanzas  runs: 

O  ir  armen  Schwaben, 

was  hand  ir  geton, 

"  Hildebrand  (p.  59)  cites  Gropp,  Samml.  wiirzb.  Geschichtsschr.,  I,  130. 

1  cannot  find  the  passage  in  question  in  Collectio  Novissima  Scriptorum  et  Rerum 
Wirceburgensium  ...  P.  Ignatii  Gropp,  Frankfurt,  1741.  See  also  Anzeiger 
fiir  Kunde  der  deutschen  Vorzeit,  II  (1854),  271. 

^^  O.  L.  B.  Wolff,  Sammlung  historischer  Volkslieder  und  Gedichte  der 
Deutschen,  1830,  p.  258;  Liliencron,  Die  historischen  Volkslieder,  III  (1867), 
480,  No.  381. 

^^  Geschichte  der  Eidgenossen  wahrend  der  Zeiten  der  Kirchentrennung, 
Zweyte  Ahtheilung,  Zurich,  1829,  pp.  117-118.  See  also  E.  E.  Koch,  Geschichte  des 
Kirchenliedes  und  Kirchengesanges  der  christUchen,  insbesondere  der  deutschen 
evangelischen  Kirche,  Stuttgart,  1867,  II,  5;  H.  Alt,  Der  christliche  Cultus,  I 
(Berlin,  1851),  144;  Niklaus  Manuel,  ed.  J.  Baechtold  (Bibliothek  dlterer  Schrift- 
werke  der  deutschen  Schweiz  und  ihres  Grenzgebietes,  II,  Frauenfeld,  1878),  p. 
xxxv;  Bockel,  Psychologic  der  Volksdichtung,  Leipzig,  1906,  p.  331,  n.  4.  The 
story  is  poetically  told  in  Carl  von  Winterfeld,  Der  evangelische  Kirchengesang, 
I  (Leipzig,  1843),  114-115. 

^*  Bartsch,  Beitrdge  zur  Quellenkunde  der  altdeutschen  Literatur,  Strassburg, 
1886,  pp.  308-310,  No.  3;  K.  Steiff,  Geschichtliche  Lieder  und  Spruche  Wurttem- 
hergs,  1899  ff.,  p.  336,  No.  69. 

5 


"0  Du  Armer  Judas^* 

das  wir  unsern  Christum 
so  schandtlich  hand  verlon! 
darum  so  must  ir  liden 
dSpanier  in  euwerm  land, 
des  kaisers  aigen  bliben: 
ist  euch  ain  grosse  schand. 

Perhaps  the  best  stanza  is  the  prophecy  of  the  fate  of  the  city  of 
Ulm: 

UUm,  Ulm,  ich  thun  dir  sagen, 

es  wirt  dir  ubell  gan; 

denen  mocht  ir  hertz  schlagen, 

die  by  dir  musen  stan 

und  hertzlich  schmertzen  liden, 

die  grosse  schmach  und  schand 

an  iren  kindt  und  wiben 

im  gantzen  Schwaben  land. 

The  author  discreetly  conceals  his  identity: 
Der  uns  dis  lied  gesungen  hatt, 
von  nuwem  hatt  gemacht, 
der  hatt  der  Spanier  boshait 
von  hertzen  recht  betracht, 
die  sy  iezund  tiben 
zu  Ulm  in  der  statt; 
darum  well  gott  behliten 
ein  lobliche  eidgenossenschaft. 

The  presence  of  the  Spanish  in  Swabia  vexes  this  anonymous 
writer,  but  it  so  delights  Jorg  Lang  of  Simelbrunnen,  an  oppo- 
nent of  the  Reformation,  that  he  shouts  "Kyrie,  die  Spanier 
seind  im  land!'* — a  stirring  refrain  to  "Von  den  Reichstetten 
Ein  newes  Lied  Im  Thon  *Ach  du  armer  Judas'  "  of  1546, 
which  begins: 

We  euch,  ir  armer  reichstett, 

wie  gross  vermessenheit 

dass  ir  euch  widern  frommen  kaiser, 

die  hocViste  oberkait, 

on  ursach  dorften  setzen 

auss  besonderm  neid  und  hass! 

furwar,  ir  solten  wollen, 

ir  hettens  betrachtet  bass, 

Kyrie,  die  Spanier  seind  im  land  !^" 

'*  Cf.  B6hme,  p.  646;  Liliencron,  Die  historischen  Volkslieder,  IV  (Leipzig, 
1869),  369-372,  No.  539;  Hildebrand  and  Soltau,  Deutsche  Historische  Volks- 
lieder,  Zweites  Hundert,  Leipzig,  1856,  pp.  221-229,  No.  30;  Hildebrand,  p.  64, 
n.  2;  Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben,  p.  232. 


I 


Taylor 

The  poet  then  in  a  leisurely  manner  goes  about  his  task  of 
caUing  the  imperial  cities  to  account.  These  cities,  he  says,  have 
fallen  away  from  the  true  faith  because  of  their  pride  and  par- 
ticularly because  of  their  acceptance  of  the  Lutheran  heresies; 

Wann  ir  aber  thut  fragen, 
was  euch  dahin  hab  bracht: 
furwar  ich  will  euch  sagen, 
ir  habt  euch  zu  hoch  geacht 
und  ewerer  predicanten 
new  falsch  erdachte  let; 
wann  ir  sie  alle  hankten, 
die  thetens  nimmer  mer. 
Kyrie,  die  Spanier  seind  im  land  I 

Next  having  reviewed  the  failure  of  the  Peasants*  War,  in  which 
the  imperial  cities  participated,  he  admonishes  them  not  to  be 
angered  at  the  judgment  of  God  to  be  seen  in  its  outcome: 

Furwar  ir  solt  nit  zumen, 

dann  es  kain  wunder  ist; 

wann  gott  der  herr  thut  bschirmen, 

so  hilf  t  kain  gwalt  noch  list. 

The  sins  of  the  imperial  cities,  which  are  of  course  the  sins  of 
Luther's  adherents,  are  numerous:  nine  stanzas  are  required  to 
summarize  them.  The  cities  have  refused  obedience  to  their 
lord,  the  Emperor,  have  expelled  priests,  monk»,  and  nuns,  have 
sacked  the  churches  and  monasteries,  have  desecrated  the  holy 
images,  mocked  the  mass,  falsified  Holy  Writ,  disregarded  the 
times  for  fasting  and  have  eaten  meat  on  Friday,  have  scorned 
Charles  V,  their  lawful  ruler,  and  have  rebelled  against  him. 
All  this  makes  a  very  telling  indictment  of  sins  for  which  God's 
vengeance  will  not  be  long  delayed: 

ob  es  sich  schon  lang  hat  verzogen; 
gott  ist  kain  Bair  nit, 
er  hat  noch  niemand  betrogen 
und  kumbt  zu  rechter  frist. 
K)nrie,  die  Spanier  seind  im  land?" 

The  concluding  strophes  in  which  he  turns  more  to  the  personali- 
ties are  distinctly  weaker,  and  more  than  once  degenerate  into 
the  vilest  abuse. 

*•  Stanza  13,  vv.  5-9.    Hildebrand  and  Soltau  {loc.  cit.)  conjecture  that 
the  author  of  the  satire  was,  in  spite  of  these  lines,  a  Bavarian. 


'V  Du  Armer  Judas'' 

Another  employment  of  the  Judas  song  is  preserved  in  the 
manuscript  of  the  unpublished  chronicle  of  Thuringia  and  Erfurt 
by  Konrad  StoUe.  The  portion  of  the  chronicle  which  can  be 
certainly  ascribed  to  Stolle  closes  with  the  year  1493  and  up  to 
that  date  the  manuscript  is  in  his  autograph.  There  follow  in 
various  hands  miscellaneous  songs  concerning  events  which 
took  place  in  and  after  1526,  and  among  these  songs  occurs 
'*Ein  O  Armer  Judas  von  den  newen  Christen": 

O  jr  \-iel  armen  christen 
was  hand  jr  getan, 
das  jr  euch  Priapisten, 
hant  so  verfueren  Ian, 
darumb  muest  jr  noch  leiden 
vil  hellische  pein, 
sanct  Peters  schiffla  meiden 
fait  jn  das  mher  hinein 
kyrieleison. 

Nit  neyd  die  hohen  schulen, 

w-uthet  nit  mit  schalle 

sie  land  nit  also  wulen. 

vde  es  euch  gefal. 

wissen  kein  grund  noch  glauben, 

bey  potencia, 

seint  jr  die  selen  brauben 

\Tither  f  alschem  schein 

kyrieleyson. 

0  jr  reudigen  scheflSe, 

wer  hat  euch  verblendt, 

das  ir  funvitzig  effle, 

nit  ewem  hirten  kendt, 

den  wolffen  thut  nach  lauffen, 

gand  willig  zu  dem  tod, 

got  vs-irt  euch  schwerlich  straffen, 

jr  thuts  an  alle  noth, 

kirieleyson.21 

Nor  did  Luther  himself  fail  to  seize  this  weapon  and  turn  it 
against  his  enemy,  Duke  Henry  of  Brunswick,  saying,  '*Wenn 

21  Hesse,  "Aus  Konrad  Stolles  Erfurter  Chronik,"  Zeitschrift  fiir  deutsches 
Alterthum,  VIII  (1851),  339-340  (Blatt  314  of  the  Chronik).  Stolle  remarks  in 
another  place  that  he  was  sixteen  years  old  in  1446;  it  is  therefore  probable  that 
the  entries  referring  to  the  religious  controversies  and  among  them  this  song 
are  by  another. 

8 


Taylor 

ich  dis  Liedlin  ein  mal  vol  mache,  wil  ich  dem  zu  Meintz  seine 
leisen  auch  finden."    The  ''Liedlin"  is  as  follows: 

AH  du  arger  Heintze,  was  hastu  getan. 

Das  du  N-iel  Fromer  menschen  durchs  fewr  hast  morden  Ian. 

Des  \^-irstu  in  der  Helle  leiden  grosse  pern, 

Lucibers  geselle  mustu  ewig  sein,  K>Tieleison. 

AH  verlom  Papisten,  Was  habt  jr  gethan, 

dass  jr  die  rechten  Christen,  nicht  kimdtet  leben  Ian, 

des  habt  die  grosse  schande,  die  e-wig  beliben  sol, 

sie  gehet  durch  alle  Lande  vnd  solt  ihr  werden  tol,  K>Tieleison.^ 

Haltaus  reports  that  at  the  instance  of  Duke  Henry  the  Senate 
of  Brunswick  inquired  in  1545  whether  the  gatekeepers  of 
Wolfenbiittel  had  blown  the  tune  "0  du  armer  Judas"  at  the 
departure  of  the  Senate's  messengers,  but  he  does  not  say 
whether  a  satisfactory  answer  was  given.^'  Clearly  the  tune 
awakened  far  from  pleasant  recollections  in  the  Duke's  mind. 

A  mediocre  song  of  1548  aimed  against  Moritz  of  Saxony 
begins  with  the  two  foregoing  stanzas  of  Luther's  and  con- 
tinues : 

Moritz,  du  rechter  Judas, 

was  hastu  gethan! 

du  bringst  zu  uns  die  Spanier, 

die  schenden  fraw  und  man; 

du  bringst  her  die  Maraner 

in  unser  vaterland, 

darzu  Italianer, 

ist  dir  ein  ewig  schand ! 

For  a  dozen  and  more  strophes  the  satirist  recites  in  a  rather 
bitter  tone  the  sins  of  !Moritz  and  his  associates.  His  wrath 
is  perhaps  expressed  most  forcefully  in  the  last  of  the  twenty- 
four  stanzas: 

Sie  sollen  miteinander, 

die  gotteslesterer  all, 

«  Wider  Hans  Worst  (1541),  ed.  J.  K.  F.  Knaake,  HaUe,  1880,  p.  73  {Neu- 
drucke  deuischcr  Liikratum'erke  des  16.  Ufid  17.  Jahrhunderts,  No.  28).  Cf. 
Hildebrand,  p.  64;  Liliencron,  Die  kistorischen  Volkslieder,  IV,  175,  No.  476; 
Hassebrauk,  '"Die  geschichtliche  Volksdichtung  Braunschweigs,"  Zeitschrift 
des  Harzvereins,  XXXIV  (1910),  44.  I  have  not  seen  Rambach,  Luth^rs  Ver- 
diensi,  pp.  113-114. 

^  C.  G.  Haltaus,  Glossarium  Gernmnicum  Medii  Aevi,  Leipzig,  1758,  s.v. 
Judasgruss;  he  quotes  from  the  Acta  Heinrici  lulii  Ducis  Brunsu.  contra  Ciuita- 
tem  Brunsu.,  I,  466.    Cf.  Creizenach,  Beitrdge,  H,  186,  n.  4. 


"0  Du  Armer  Judas'' 

mit  bapst  und  sein  vasallen 
hinfahren  ins  teufels  stall; 
daselbst  sie  sollen  haben 
das  ewige  herzenleid. 
Herr  gott,  erschein  mit  gnaden 
deiner  armen  christenheit.^^ 

In  1552  afler  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Frankfurt  the  fol- 
lowers of  Margrave  Albrecht  very  savagely  attacked  Moritz 
for  his  treachery  in  a  song  to  the  tune  of  the  Judaslied: 

O  du  armer  Mauritz, 

was  hastu  gethan, 

das  du  den  edlen  kunig 

so  schendlich  hast  verlan ! 

darumb  mustu  leiden 

ewig  spott  und  schand, 

man  wirt  dich  zuletz  vertreiben 

von  leuten  und  von  land, 

kistel  seckel  feger. 

The  remaining  stanzas,  three  in  number,  heap  up  abusive  and 
filthy  epithets,  displaying  bitterness  of  feeling  but  no  skill  in 
expression.    The  second  stanza  will  give  an  idea  of  the  others: 

Wie  oft  bistu  worden 

zu  einem  schelmen  gross, 

getreten  in  Judas  orden, 

verrathen  viel  ohn  mass! 

kein  trau  noch  ehr  betrachtet, 

wider  alle  natur 

verretherei  du  machtest 

bist  ie  ein  grosser  laur, 

kisten  seckel  feger.^ 

When,  a  little  later,  Jacob  Herbrot,  burgomaster  of  Augsburg, 
took  sides  with  Moritz  of  Saxony  against  the  Emperor,  the 
city  was  soon  occupied  by  Spanish  troops.  The  citizens  relieved 
their  feelings  by  singing : 

O  du  arger  Herbrot, 

was  hast  dich  angemast, 

dass  du  die  stat  Augspurg 

so  grob  verraten  hast! 

darumb  must  du  leiden 

und  must  billich  sein 

diirrer  bruder  geselle 

an  dem  galgen  sein. 

2^  Liliencron,  Die  historischen  Volkslieder,  IV,  464-466,  No.  572. 

25  Ibid.,  IV,  568-569,  No.  607.  The  last  line,  a  parody  of  the  Kyrie  eleison, 
is  also  found  in  an  Anabaptist  mocking  song  based  on  the  Judaslied,  cf.  Wacker- 
nagel,  III,  392-393,  No.  466. 

10 


Taylor 

Each  of  the  five  stanzas  begins  in  similar  fashion:  *'0  du  loser 
Herbrot/'  "0  du  schneder  Herbrot,"  and  so  on.'^^  And  the  last 
one  takes  up  the  concluding  * 'Lucifer  s  geselle  mustu  ewig  sein" 
so  that  in  structure  these  satirical  verses  conform  more  nearly 
to  their  model  than  is  the  case  with  the  other  parodies. 

A  generation  after  this  Gebhard  Truchsess  of  Cologne  was 
satirized  to  the  tune  of  "O  du  armer  Judas"  (1587)." 

The  song  was  not  forgotten  by  Roman  Catholic  partisans 
in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  but  they  seem  to  have  employed  it 
only  against  the  "Winter  King/'  Friedrich  V.  von  der  Pfalz, 
the  unfortunate  ruler  of  Bohemia;  but  Protestants,  so  far  as  the 
evidence  now  goes,  made  no  use  of  it.^^  In  1620  a  parody,  which 
loses  its  force  because  of  its  length,  thus  threatened  the  Bohe- 
mians: 

O  Ihr  arme  Boheim, 

was  habt  jhr  gethon, 

das  jhr  ewern  frommen  Konig 

nit  handt  regieren  lohn? 

Darumb  miissent  jhr  euch  leyden 

im  gantzen  Teutschn  Landt, 

dess  Kaysers  gunst  vermeiden, 

ist  es  nit  ein  schandt? 

Kyrie,  thuns  nimmer  mehr.  2» 

They  have  been  false  to  their  coronation  oath  and  the  emperor 
will  not  forgive  their  perjury: 

Bey  der  Cronung  handt  jhr  geschworen 

einen  falschen  Aydt, 

sehent,  das  jhr  nit  werden  verlohren 

darzu  in  ewigkeit, 

welches  ist  geschehen 

in  manchem  schonen  Land, 

darff  ich  sicher  jehen, 

ist  es  nit  ein  schandt? 

Kyrie,  thuns  nimmer  mehr.  .  .  . 

^  Liliencron,  IV,  575-576,  No.  609.  Cf.  his  Deutsches  Leben  im  Volkslied 
urn  1530,  p.  LIV. 

^"^  Bohme,  Altdeutsches  Liederbuch,  p.  647  (title  only  cited). 

-8  K.  Bruchmann,  Die  auf  den  ersten  Aufenthalt  des  Winterkonigs  in  Breslau 
beziiglichen  Flugschriften,  Programm,  Breslau,  1905,  No.  215,  contains  nothing 
relevant  here. 

29  R.  Wolkan,  Deutsche  Lieder  auf  den  Winterkonig  (Bibliothek  deutscher 
Schriftsteller  aus  Bdhmen,  VIII),  Prague,  1898,  pp.  82-86,  No.  15,  2,  cf.  pp. 
345-346,  No.  68.  Hildebrand  (p.  64,  n.  3)  cites  Heyse,  Biicherschatz  der 
deulschen  National-Litteratur  des  16.  und  17.  Jahrhunderts,  No.  1338. 

11 


"0  Dii  Armer  Judas^' 

Mein  Gnadiger  Herr,  der  Kayser, 
hat  jhm  gar  recht  gethan, 
das  er  sich  in  andere  Landtschafft 
hat  f  iihren  lohn. 
Da  ist  er  euch  gesessen 
mit  Kraut  und  Loth, 
\Tid  wird  ewer  nit  vergessen, 
vnnd  solt  es  sein  ewer  Todt. 
Kyrie,  thuns  nimmer  mehr. 

They  deserve,  the  author  continues,  just  such  mockery  as  this 
song: 

Last  euch  nit  verdriessen 
dieses  Liedlin  schlecht, 
man  solt  euch  tretten  mit  f  iissen, 
so  gescheh  euch  eben  recht. 

The  bitterest  scorn  is  heaped  upon  them : 

Nach  disem  Leben, 
jhr  arme  Bohmerleuth, 
Vngarer  vnnd  Mehrer 
vnd  alles  Dorngesteyd, 
was  in  den  Hecken 
gewachsen  ist  im  Landt, 
stellt  man  zu  den  Bocken 
am  Jiingsten  tag  zur  schandt. 
Kyrie,  thuns  nimmer  mehr. 

All  of  them  who  revolt  against  their  lawful  lord,  the  Holy 
Roman  Emperor,  should,  he  concludes,  be  hanged  like  Absalom: 

Zur  Schandt  vnd  Spot 
allem  disem  Gesindt, 
die  wider  den  Romischen  Kayser 
also  vnriiwig  seindt, 
denen  wirdts  ergohn, 
wie  dem  Absolon, 
an  Baum  ist  er  bUben  hangen, 
mit  Spiessen  durchstechen  lohn. 
Kyrie,  thuns  nimmer  mehr. 

Another  song  to  the  tune  of  "O  du  armer  Judas"  appeared 
when  the  fall  of  the  Winter  King  became  certain:  "Ein  schon 
new  Gesang  Von  Konig  Fritzen"  (1621).^<'  The  first  stanza 
runs: 

30Wolkan,  pp.  117-123,  No.  23;  cf.  p.  343,  No.  60A;  p.  363,  No.  116; 
p.  384,  No.  169E.  This  is  presumably  the  song  "O  du  armer  Fritz,"  cited  by 
Bohme,  Altdeutsches  Liederhuch,  p.  647.  See  also  K.  Heyse,  Bilcherschatz,  No. 
1341  and  Emil  Weller,  Lieder  des  Dreissigjdhrigen  Krieges,"^  Basel,  1858,  p. 
xxiii. 

12 


% 


Taylor 

O  du  armer  Konig  Fritz, 
Was  hast  du  gethan, 
Das  du  vnserem  Keyser 
Seyn  Cron  hast  nit  gelahn? 
Darumb  must  du  meiden 
Dein  Chur  vnd  Bohmerland, 
Pfuy  dich  der  grossen  Schande, 
1st  aller  Welt  bekant. 
Kyrie  eleyson. 

King  Friedrich  is  addressed  very  directly  at  first : 

Ey  lieber  Fritz,  mein  Heber  Gsell, 
Lass  fajiren  dise  Cron, 
Bereit  ist  dir  woU  in  der  HoU 
Fiir  dich  zu  deinem  lohn. 
Dan  wer  sich  selbst  erhochen  thut, 
Gott  strafift  in  darauff  glich, 
Fait  tieffer  in  die  helle  Glut 
Vnnd  kompt  von  Gottes  Rych. 
Kyrie  eleyson. 

The  king's  youth  affords  an  opportunity  for  a  home-thrust: 

O  lieber  Fritz,  du  junges  Blut, 
Dir  besser  wer  zu  handt 
Ein  gute  eingeweichte  Rut, 
Als  dise  grosse  schandt. 

His  fall  from  high  office  is  certain: 

Kein  Chur  Fiirst  wirst  du  nit  mehr  sein. 
Das  sag  ich  dir  f  iirwahr, 
Fileicht  must  huten  noch  den  schwein 
Auf  dises  kiinfiftig  jahr. 
Vertriben  wirst  auss  Bohmerland. 
Sich  was  hast  du  gethan. 
An's  Zepters  statt  in  deiner  handt 
Den  narren  kolben  han. 
Kyrie  eleyson. 

After  this  the  author  turns  more  to  generalities:  the  Winter 
King's  plans  have  gone  awry  because  he  was  not  called  to  office 
by  the  divine  will.  He  would  have  been  much  better  off  as  Elec- 
tor than  he  is  now  in  a  position  where  the  Catholics  are  watching 
him  from  every  side.  The  soldiers  of  the  Catholic  'Tiga" 
are  well  paid  and  in  good  spirits.    The  king  has  stolen  from  the 


13 


"0  Du  Armer  Judas^' 

priests  and  they  are  now  in  arms.  In  short,  the  Winter  King 
must  soon  pay  the  piper: 

Die  Zech  must  jnen  zahlen  bar, 
Botz  Fritz,  du  armer  tropff, 
Beschichts  nit  hiir,  vfifs  ander  jahr 
Fileicht  mit  deinem  Kopff. 
Ich  raht  dier,  fliich  in  Engelland 
In  gute  Sicherheit, 
Dein  Pfaltz  ist  jetzt  in  ander  hand, 
Mit  trewen  seis  dir  gseidt. 
Kyrie  eleyson. 

Here,  if  not  earlier,  the  author  might  well  have  stopped,  but 
he  goes  on  for  seven  more  stanzas.  Friedrich  has  already 
suffered  one  defeat  and  he  may  look  forward  to  the  fate  of 
Absalom: 

Sein  vatter  fromb  wolt  Absalon 
Vom  Reich  verstossen  gar, 
Empfangen  hat  seinen  lohn, 
Erhenckt  sich  an  seim  har. 
Das  ebenbild  dich  treffen  mag, 
Glaub  Liechtenbergers  Saag, 
Bestattet  wirst  in  Esels  graab, 
VoUenden  deine  tag. 

Repentance  will  not  save  the  Winter  King  from  mockery  and  the 
consequences  of  his  deeds.    The  author  ends: 

Die  sach  wil  ich  jetzt  bleiben  lahn, 
Wo  man  nit  folgen  wil, 
Man  sicht  wol,  wo  es  auss  wil  gahn 
Vnnd  geben  f  lir  ein  Spil. 
Wer  stercker  ist,  hat  oberhandt, 
Ohn  Gottes  gnad  ist  nicht, 
Bewahre  Catholischen  Standt, 
Derselb  behalt  den  stich. 
Kyrie  eleyson. 

This  song  is  particularly  interesting  because  it  also  occurs  in 
a  somewhat  shorter  form — sixteen  stanzas  instead  of  eighteen — 
with  considerable  verbal  differences,  called  "Lamentatio  iiber 
den  Konig  in  Bohmen,  von  den  Papisten  gemacht."^^     For 

2^  Opel  and  Cohn,  Der  dreissigjahrige  Krieg,  eine  Sammlung  von  historischen 
Gedichten  und  Prosadarstellungen,  Halle,  1862,  pp.  61-64;  reprinted  in  Ditfurth, 
Die  historisch-politischen  Volkslieder  des  dreissigjahrigen  Kriegs  (ed.  K.  Bartsch), 
Heidelberg,  1882,  p.  18. 

14 


Taylor 

comparison  I  print  two  corresponding  stanzas'*  in  parallel 
columns: 

Die  Pfafifen  hast  in  haraisch  bracht,  Die  Pfaffen  hastu  in  Harnisch  bracht, 

nit  bald  bringst  sy  mehr  drauss,  Nicht  raehr  bringst  du  sie  'raus, 

Bis  dass  sy  dir  den  garaus  gmacht  Bis  sie  dir  ban  den  Garaus  gemacht 

Vnd  lachen  dich  nur  auss,  Und  konunst  in  nobis  Haus.^ 

Den  spot  must  sampt  den  schaden  ban  Den  armen  Judas  musst  du  singen^ 

Mit  deiner  falscher  Lehr,  Gar  bald,  mein  lieber  Friez, 

Du  hast  es  dir  nur  selbst  gethan,  Vielleicht  gar  iiber  die  Klinge  springen, 

Ein  ander  maJil  kommt  mehr.  Dich  wird  brennen  die  Hiefc. 

To  be  sure  the  comparison  of  these  two  stanzas  alone  will  not 
give  an  entirely  fair  idea  of  the  degree  of  similarity  existing 
between  the  two  versions.  Perhaps  two-thirds  of  the  stanzas 
agree  as  closely  as  the  two  foregoing,  but  the  remaining  third 
in  "Ein  schon  new  Gesang"  have  no  correspondences  in  the 
"Lamentatio."  Opel  and  Cohn,  like  all  editors,  think  their 
version  the  more  original,  and  possibly  they  are  right.  At  any 
rate  the  characteristic  idioms  of  the  ''Lamentatio''  in  the 
preceding  passage  appear  as  commonplaces  in  the  parallel 
text,  and  this  fact  might  be  adduced  in  favor  of  their  opinion.'^ 
The  concluding  stanza  of  the  ''Lamentatio" — which  may 
be  compared  with  that  of  the  "Gesang"  above — shows  more 
than  one  humorous  touch: 

Ich  will  der  Sachen  nicht  thun  zu  viel, 

Wills  itzund  bleiben  Ian, 

Weil  man  kann  sehen  aus  dem  Brill, 

Was  der  Friez  hat  gethan. 

Ware  Bier  in  Fass  widerum, 

32  On  the  left  the  tenth  strophe  of  "Ein  schon  new  Gesang"  and  on  the  right 
the  eleventh  of  the  *'Lamentatio." 

'3  "In  nobis  Haus  kommen"  means  'to  die,*  see  Liebrecht,  Germania,  VII 
(1862),  500;  and  XVI  (1871),  213;  Laistner,  ihid.,  XXVI  (1881),  65  ff.;  Grimm, 
Deutsche  Mythologie*  II,  837;  J.  Frey,  Gartengesellschaft  (ed.  Bolte),  Tubingen 
1896,  pp.  231-232;  Zeits.  d.  Vers./.  Volkskunde,  IV  (1894),  189;  J.  W.  Muller, 
Album-Kern,  pp.  257-262  (cited  in  Jahresberichte  .  .  .  germ.  PhiloL,  XXV 
[1903],  194,  §12,  No.  55);  and  a  long  series  of  notes  in  Alemannia,  II  (1875), 
259-261;  III  (1875),  282;  VII  (1879),  94;  IX  (1881),  88;  XIV  (1886),  40  and  in 
Am  Urguell,  I,  163  ff.;  II,  34  S.,  112,  219,  260  ff.  The  phrase  is  of  considerable 
interest  to  the  mythologist. 

^  On  "den  armen  Judas  singen"  see  note  below. 

^Wolkan  holds  two  contradictory  opinions  about  the  relation  of  the 
"Gesang"  to  the  "Lamentatio" ;  compare  p.  vii  with  p.  343  and  see  Diemar  in 
Literaturhlaitf.  germ,  und  rom.  Philol.,  XXI(1900),  163. 

15 


"0  Du  Armer  Judas^^ 

So  stiinde  die  Sax:he  ga^  uol; 

Zu  geschehen  Dingen  in  der  Summ 

Das  Beste  man  reden  soil. 

The  JudasUed  is  still  sung  by  the  Germans  of  western  Bohe- 
mia^* in  the  following  form: 

Ach  falscher  Judas,  was  hast  du  getan?  Du  hast  ja  unsern  Heirrn  Gott 
verraten,  jetztmusstduleideninderHollePein!  Luci,  Luciferi,  es  muss  ge- 
schehen sein!    Kyrieeleyson,  Christeeleyson,  AUeluja. 

Wea[r]  keina  Oia  [Eier]  haut,  Geld  nehma  a! 

The  last  sentence,  a  request  for  the  singer's  pay,  is  of  course 
not  a  part  of  the  song;  it  refers  to  a  custom  which  is  practised 
in  many  places  in  Bohemia  on  Easter  Monday:  boys  go  from 
house  to  house  singing  and  collecting  eggs  or  other  gifts  which 
they  later  share  among  themselves.^^  The  Judas  song  is,  as 
will  appear  later  in  the  discussion  of  its  tune,  intimately  con- 
nected with  Easter  festivities.  This  instance  of  its  being  sung 
about  Easter  time  by  crowds  of  boys — presumably  accompanied 
with  more  or  less  disorder — renders  it  probable  that  certain 
passages  (collected  by  Creizenach)  describing  customs  in  olden 
times  also  refer  to  the  JudasUed.  On  the  Saturday  before 
Easter,  says  Haltaus  in  a  glossary  of  the  German  language 
written  in  1758,  the  children  of  Leipzig  used  to  go  about  with 
drums,  bells,  and  rattles,  singing  a  song  in  which  Judas  was 
mocked — presumably  the  Judas  song: 

Sonnabends  vor  Ostern,  so  bald  es  nur  anfieng  zu  tagen,  liefen  die  Kinder, 
lungen  und  Magdlein,  mit  Paucken,  Schellen  und  Klappern  durch  die  Stadt 
herumb,  auch  in  die  Kloster  und  Kirchen,  und  sungen  mit  grossem  Geschrey 
ein  teutsches  lied,  welches  dem  verraeter  luda  zuschand  und  unehren,  von  der 
geistlichkeit  war  gemacht  worden.^^ 

And  a  chronicler  of  Zwickau,  a  town  of  Saxony  on  the  border  of 
Bohemia,  who  is  also  quoted  by  Haltaus,  gives  a  similar  descrip- 

^  At  "Kolosup  bei  Tuschkau,  Mieser  Bezirk";  see  A.  John,  Sitte,  Branch 
und  Volksglauhe  im  deutschen  Westhohmen  {Beitrdge  zur  deulsch-hohmischen 
Volkskunde,  VI),  Prague,  1905,  p.  64. 

"John,  p.  67.  See  C.  Peabody,  "Certain  Quests  and  Doles,"  Putnam 
Anniversary  Volume,  1909,  pp.  344-367  on  this  custom  in  general  and  the 
references  in  Sartori,  Sitte  und  Brauch,  III,  4. 

3®  S.v.  Judasgruss.    He  is  quoting  "Vogelius  in  Chron.  Lips.  MS." 


16 


Taylor 

tion'^  of  the  "Pumpervesper"  which  was  held  there  on  Holy 
Thursday: 

Da  iederman  mit  Stecken,  Kniitteln,  Priigeln,  Steinen,  Hammern,  Beilen — 
in  der  Kirchen  auf  die  Stiile  und  Banke,  und  wo  es  nur  einen  starken  Wiederhall 
gab,  schlug.  Darbey  muste  sich  der  arme  Judas  viel  leiden;  iederman  redete 
alles  iibel  von  ihm  und  wolten  ihn  also  zum  Teufel  in  die  Holle  jagen. 

This  shows  certain  reminiscences  of  phrases  in  "O  du  armer 
Judas."  Jorg  Wickram,  an  Alsatian  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
also  refers  unmistakably  to  the  Judaslied  in  a  collection  of  anec- 
dotes entitled  Rollwagenhilchlein  (first  ed.,  1555).  During  Holy 
Week,  he  says,  we  tend  to  become  pious,  but  when  Easter 
passes,  then  the  piety  vanishes: 

Dann  so  jagen  wir  den  Judas  uber  den  zaun  vnd  gan  alle  Elirchweyhen  an; 
so  muss  sich  Zacheus  leiden  gleich  wie  Judas  in  der  fins  tern  metten;  mit  dem 
und  iiber  den  schreigt,  singt  und  boldert  man;  wenig  aber  wirt  dass  leiden  Chris ti 
bedacht."" 

It  is  worth  noting  that  in  Bohemia  something  like  the  Ger- 
man Judaslied  was  sung  in  Holy  Week,  as  the  congregation  left 
the  church: 

Jidisi  co's  ucinil  Oh  Judas!    What  have  you  done? 

ze's  pana  Krista  Zidum  zradil?      You  have  betrayed  Christ  to  the  Jews? 
Musis  za  to  u  pecle  buti,  For  this  you  shall  live  in  Hell 

S  certem  d'ablem  prebyvati.  With  the  Devil  as  dues. 

There  is  another  Bohemian  song  about  Judas  which  resembles 

the  German  song  even  more  closely: 

O  Jidasi  neverny!  O  Judas,  unfaithful  one! 

CO  jsi  ucinil,  What  have  you  done 

ze's  sv^ho  mistra  That  you  your  Master 

zidum  prozradil?  Thus  have  betrayed? 

musl§  za  to  For  this  you  must 

glapat  bldto,  Tramp  in  the  mud 

CO  nejvlce  As  much  as  you  can, 

do  cepice.  In  depth  to  your  cap. 

My  Jida§e  honfme,  We  are  chasing  Judas 

klekani  zvonime;  With  kneeling  and  ringing  of  bells. 

kyrie  eleyson.^^ 

39  Cf.  Grimm,  Deutsches  Worterbuch,  VII,  1993  (Polterpassion),  2231 
(Pumpermette,  etc.),  and  VIII,  1488  (Rumpelmette) ,  etc. 

*°  Ed.  H.  Kurz,  Leipzig,  1865,  p.  88.  "In  der  finstern  metten"  alludes  to 
the  mass  read  on  Good  Friday;  the  melody  of  the  Judaslied  in  one  early  manu- 
script bears  the  superscription  "Zu  dem  'Laus  tibi  Christe'  in  der  vmster  met- 
ten." 

*'  Both  songs  are  carelessly  printed  by  Solovev  (pp.  116-117)  from  K.  J. 
Erben,  Prostondrodni  ceske  pisnS  a  rikadla,  Prague,  1864, 1,  60. 

17 


"O  Du  Armer  Judas'' 

The  melody  of  the  Judaslied  has  a  history  of  its  own.*^  It 
is  composed  in  the  Mixolydian  Mode,  the  seventh  of  the  eccle- 
siastical modes,  transposed  a  fourth  higher.  It  is  simple,  direct 
and  rather  impressive. 


>  C.  J  j  J 


±±^ 


S 


? 

__  — . 

« — J 

■        ,       J       , 

^ 

i^'j  J  J  J 

:^=5=f 

J     J      ■'J-^ 

^tttlifia: 

f^ 


i:i 


iiii 


i 


±±3=J 


J  J  i^*' 


-^ 


:^ 


tri 


^ 


-»V— *^  ill,— J    ''"l''^"^ 


^ 


31^ 


^ 


53 


^ 


This  first  appears,  with  minor  differences,  about  the  end  of 
the  fourteenth  century  (in  a  manuscript  which  can  be  dated 
between  1392  and  1400)  under  the  title  "Zu  dem  *Laus  tibi 
Christe,'  in  der  vinster  metten."^  A  Tegernsee  manuscript  of 
the  next  generation,  which  contains  the  melody,  also  refers 

<2  F.  M.  Bohme,  Altdeutsches  Liederbuch,  Leipzig,  1877,  pp.  644  ff.,  No. 
539;  Liliencron,  Die  historischen  Volkslieder,  IV,  Appendix,  "Die  Tone,"  pp. 
2^25;  Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben,  pp.  230-232.  Wilhelm  Tappert  {Wandernde 
Melodien,^  Leipzig,  1890,  pp.  80-81)  adds  nothing  of  importance.  Bohme 
(p.  LXVII),  Liliencron  {Deutsches  Leben  im  Volkslied  urn  1530,  pp. 
227-228,  No.  75),  and  Erk-Bohme  (Deutscher  Liederhort,  III  [Leipzig,  1894], 
670,  No.  1963)  give  transpositions  into  modern  musical  notation.  There  is 
another  modern  setting  in  a  higher  key  in  Friedrich  Arnold,  Das  deutsche  Volks- 
lied, Prenzlau,  1912,  II,  207,  No.  139,  cf.  Anhang,  p.  40;  Arnold  also  has  it 
composed  in  four  part  harmony. 

«  The  melody  in  modern  form  is  given  in  Erk-Bohme,  III,  671,  No.  1964, 
from  whence  the  above  is  taken. 


18 


Taylor 

to  the  employment  of  the  tune  in  the  services  of  the  Church  on 
Good  Friday.    The  German  text  of  the  song  runs : 

Eya  der  grossen  liebe, 

die  dich  gebunden  hat, 

gar  hertiglich  eim  diebe, 

warer  mensch  und  warer  got. 

du  hast  her  gegeben 

mit  deinem  blute  rot 

uns  das  ewig  leben, 

dank  sey  dir  miher  got.** 

The  last  strophe  of  this  hymn  is  the  Judaslied.  During  the 
sixteenth  century  the  tune  was  used  for  a  hymn  beginning: 

Wir  dancken  dir,  lieber  herre, 

der  bitern  marter  dein  .  .  ,  ** 

And  of  this  again  "O  du  armer  Judas"  is  the  last  strophe.  This 
combination  of  the  Judas  song  with  a  hymn  is,  as  Bohme  (p. 
646)  points  out,  paralleled  in  several  other  instances,  e.g., 
"O  du  armer  Judas"  is  the  last  strophe  of  "Lob  wollen  wir 
singen."**  He  repeats  Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben's  conjecture 
that  the  "Laus  tibi  Christe"  came  originally  from  an  Easter 
play  in  which  the  congregation  sang  the  song  in  the  vernacular; 
and  the  last  strophe,  '*0  tu  miser  Juda,"  is,  he  says,  assigned 
to  the  congregation  in  printed  texts  of  Easter  plays  from  the 
sixteenth  century.  This  fact  alone  would  account  satisfac- 
torily for  the  people's  familiarity  with  the  melody.  Easter 
plays  which  mention  the  Judas  song  are,  however,  rare.  The 
stage  directions  in  a  Frankfort  passion  play*^  seem  to  confirm  his 
surmise;  at  the  moment  when  Judas  kisses  Christ  the  choir 
(persone)  sings  "O  Juda  quid  dereliquisti."  It  should  be 
remarked  that  the  words  as  well  as  the  melody  can  be  traced 
back  several  centuries  behind  this;  consequently  it  is  unneces- 

**  P.  Wackernagel,  Das  deutsche  Kirchenlied,  II  (Leipzig,  1867),  467-468, 
No.  615  (from  a  manuscript  of  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  cf .  Wacker- 
nagel, I,  365). 

«  Bohme,  p.  645,  No.  539;  Wackernagel,  II,  470-471,  No.  623;  ibid.,  HI, 
392-393,  No.  466;  E.E.  Koch,  Geschichte  des  Kirchenliedes,  I  (Stuttgart,  1866), 
209. 

«  Wajckernagel,  II,  472,  No.  627.  Cf.  Heinrich  Alt,  Der  chrisUiche  Cultus, 
II  (Berlin,  1860),  494. 

*'  Froning,  Das  Drama  des  Mittelalters,  II,  355  {Deutsche  National-Litteratur, 
XIV,  2).  W.  Tappert  {Wandernde  Melodien,^  Leipzig,  1890,  p.  80)  says  the  song 
was  sung  in  the  Easter  play  when  Judas  leaves  the  stage  to  hang  himself;  but  he 
does  not  cite  any  text  in  which  this  is  done. 

19 


"O  Du  Armer  Judas'^ 

sary  to  insist  on  the  importance  of  any  Easter  play  in  the 
dissemination  of  the  Judas  song. 

The  first  appearance  of  *'0  du  armer  Judas"  in  print  was,  I 
think,  in  Filnf  und  sechzig  teutsche  Lieder,  which  is  supposed  to 
have  been  published  in  Strassburg  between  1520  and  1525.'*^ 
During  the  century  of  the  Reformation  the  melody  is  found 
again  and  again  in  hymns:  "Unser  grosse  Siinde"  (1544), 
'Tob  und  Dank  wir  sagen"  (1555).^^  But  "Ein  neuer  armer 
Judas,  dass  iiber  uns  zu  klagen  ist,  im  alten  Thone"  (1527),  an 
ecclesiastical  parody  of  the  Judaslied,  seems  not  to  have  gained 
much  popularity.    Erk  and  Bohme  give  the  first  stanza: 

Ach  wir  armen  menschen,  was  hab  wir  gethan 
Christum  unsern  Herrn  gar  oft  verkauffet  han! 
Miisst  wir  in  der  Helle  leiden  grosse  Pein, 
wollte  er  selbst  nicht  Heifer  und  Mittler  sein.^° 

Hermann  Bonnus  (d.  1548),  a  chronicler  of  Lubeck,  adapted 
a  Catholic  hymn  to  this  Protestant  tune:  ''Och  wy  armen  sun- 
ders" (1543).  And  before  long  this  was  translated  from  Low 
German  into  High  German  as  ''O  wir  armen  Sunder,"  which 
may  still  be  found  in  Evangelical  hymn-books,  both  English 
and  German. ^1 

Thus  one  can  say  that  this  song  about  Judas  has  come  down 
to  the  present  day,  for  its  melody  may  yet  be  heard;  but  the 
remark  is  only   partly  true.     Certainly  the   impetus  to   the 

«  A.  F.  W.  Fischer,  Kirchenlieder-Lexikon,  II,  220. 

*'  Bohme  (p.  646)  lists  some  ten  in  all;  see  also  Liliencron,  Deutsches  Leben 
im  VolksUed  um  1530,  p.  lii.  Compare  the  list  of  adaptations  and  parodies  given 
in  W.  Baumker,  Das  katholische  deutsche  Kirchenlied  in  seinen  Singweisen,  I 
(Freiburg  i.  Br.,  1886),  462-463,  which  adds  some  titles,  e.g.,  "Der  arge  pyschof 
Annas" ;  "Pylatus  hat  gros  vnreght." 

^°  Deutscher  Liederhort,  111,  671. 

^^  See  for  an  elaborate  account  of  the  history  of  this  hymn :  A.  F.  W.  Fischer, 
Kirchenlieder-Lexikon,  Gotha,  1886,  II,  219-220;  cf.  also  Wackernagel,  III, 
735-736,  Nos.  849,  850;  Bohme,  p.  646;  and  (for  English  translations)  J. 
Julian,  A  Dictionary  of  Hynmology,  rev.  ed.,  London,  1907,  p.  163.  I  have  not 
seen  H.  Spiegel,  Hermann  Bonnus,^  Gottingen,  1892  nor  J.  Zahn,  DieMelodien 
der  deutschen  evangelischen  Kirchenlieder  (cited  Jahresberichte  .  .  .  germ. 
PhiloL,  XV  [1893],  234,  §15,  No.  76)  nor  Joseph  Kehrein,  Kirchenlieder,  1883, 
p.  153.  Wendebourg  (Liederleben  der  evangelischen  Kirche,  Hannover,  1852, 
p.  114,  No.  45  and  pp.  643-644)  says  that  it  is  not  assigned  to  Bonnus  in  the 
early  hymnals  and  he  therefore  queries  the  ascription  which  is  otherwise 
generaUy  accepted. 

20 


Taylor 

composition  of  ''Och  wy  armen  sunders"  and  its  early 
popularity,  evinced  by  its  translation  into  High  German,  are 
due  to  the  song.  But  the  hymn  has  outlived  its  progenitor. 
Political  songs  to  the  same  air  no  longer  awaken  the  passions 
of  men  or  their  laughter  and  have  now  only  an  antiquarian  inter- 
est. The  verbosity  of  these  satires,  the  narrowness  of  their 
outlook  on  the  situation,  and  the  vindictive,  offensively  personal 
feeling  embodied  in  them  destroy  their  effectiveness  for  us. 
Indeed  the  satires  of  the  Reformation  seem  to  have  been  almost, 
if  not  entirely,  forgotten  a  hundred  years  later.  The  Protes- 
tants apparently  did  not  think  of  the  Judas  song  at  all,  although 
they  had  once  been  the  first  to  employ  it,  and  the  Catholics  used 
it  only  in  one  episode  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  against  one 
individual,  the  Winter  King.  Thus  within  a  century  the 
song  had  lost  greatly  in  popularity  and  since  then  it  has  dropped 
entirely  from  view.  But  the  root  from  which  the  satirical  song 
and  the  Protestant  (and  Catholic)  hymns  sprang  is  alive  in 
Bohemia  where  the  song  is  still  to  be  heard,  as  it  was  six  cen- 
turies ago,  at  Eastertime. 

Archer  Taylor 
Washington  University 


NOTE:  ^'DEN  ARMEN  JUDAS  SINGEN" 

During  the  period  of  the  greatest  popularity  of  the  Judas 
song  as  a  model  for  satires  the  phrase  "den  armen  Judas  singen" 
was  occasionally  used.  One  instance  has  already  been  pointed 
out  above  in  the  "Lamentatio  uber  den  Konig  in  Bohmen." 
It  means  there  as  elsewhere  ''to  sing  rather  small. "^^  The 
phrase  is  employed  in  the  Hegebacher  Chronik  in  describing 
the  attack  of  Georg  Truchsess  on  the  peasants  during  the 
Peasants'  Warj  the  chronicler  says:  "gleich  an  der  gueten 
mitwochen  [Osterwoche]  wardent  in  "der  arme  Judas.'  "    With 

"  See  J.  and  W.  Grimm,  Deutsches  Wbrterbucit,  IV,  ii,  2351,  s.  v.  Judas. 
Long  ago  this  meaning  was  remarked  by  Scherzius  {Glossarium  Medii  Aevi, 
col.  745)  when  he  defined  Jttdasgruss  as  follows:  "acclamatio  infamis  rhythmica 
Judae,  in  ludis  scenicis  olim  decantata  ...  sic  cantilena  similis  a  populo 
infamatis  occini  solita.  dicebatur  der  arme  Judas  ab  exordio.  hunc  &  einem 
den  armen  Judas  nachblasen."  Scherzius  cites  as  authority  Haltaus,  Glossarium 
Germanicum  Medii  Aevi,  Lips.,  1758. 

21 


Note:  "Den  Armen  Judas  Singen*' 

a  similar  connotation  the  phrase  appears  twice  in  the  Faustbuch 
of  1587: 

Es  ist  hie  zu  sehen  des  Gottlosen  Fausti  Hertz  und  Opinion,  da  der  Teuffel 
jhm,  wie  man  sagt,  den  armen  Judas  sang,  wie  er  in  der  Hell  seyn  muste.'^ 

and: 

Als  nu  der  Geist  Fausto  den  armen  Judas  genugsam  gesungen,  ist  er 
wiederum  verschwunden,  und  den  Faustum  allein  gantz  Melancholisch  und 
verwirrt  gelassen." 

In  view  of  these  instances  there  is  no  reason  for  believing  (with 
Hildebrand,  p.  65)  that  the  phrase  implied  that  Judas  himself 
sang  the  song  in  a  play — the  possibility  that  the  Judas  song 
came  originally  from  an  Easter  play  is  another  matter,  which 
has  already  been  discussed.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  phrase 
**den  armen  Judas  singen"  was  used  only  durmg  the  epoch  when 
the  Judas  song  was  current  and  that  it  died  with  the  disap- 
pearance of  the  satirical  songs. 

^  Ed.  W.  Braune,  Halle,  1878,  p.  17,  ch.  iii  at  end  {Neudrucke  deutscher 
Idtteraturwerke  des  16.  und  17.  Jakrhunderts,  Nos.  7-8b);  ed.  Scheible,  Das  Klos- 
ter,  II,  Stuttgart  and  Leipzig,  1846,  p.  947. 

"  Ed.  Braune,  p.  113,ch.lxvatend;ed.  Scheible,  p.  1061. 


22 


